ZeeJay (throughly abused)

[PatM]

So I've been here a while and don't do too much talking, but figured you guys might like some of what I've done. I'm planning on committing a sin and cut/paste everything from my club's web site. No one there says too much constructively about my junk, always praise, I need some criticism. I know Mallcrawlin will come through. With 68 posts in nearly 2 years, its time to up the odds.

[PatM]

Let me tell you about my 1994 Grand Cherokee.

As it is now 04/18/2008:

Stock 4.0L
Stock 42RE automatic transmission.
231J Transfer case.
High pinion Dana 30 out of a Cherokee
Stock Dana 35c
3.55 gears
Hand me down Skyjacker 3.5" lift
KOR front track bar conversion with JKS adjustable trac bar
JKS rear adjustable trac bar
Rear ACOS set at 1.25"
Herculined interior
V8 tailgate (sweet!)
VIC delete
Rear tail lamp monitor delete
Rusty's XJ In-Cab Roll Bar. Brant lake special.
Custom lower radiator support
TJ tow hook on front
Front sway bar delete
Skyjacker 9000 shocks and steering dampener
Skid Row gas tank skid plate
Rockford Fosgate Marine source unit
Side window vent visors
Power antenna delete
Amplified interior glass mount AM/FM antenna
Class IV trailer hitch
factory amplifier delete
CB & antenna (was mounted to lift gate)
BF Goodrich M/T 31x10.5R15 on Rockcrawler series 84 "black" 15x8x4 rims
Stock upper control arms boxed in

Ask away. Pictures will follow soon

[PatM]

I purchased this truck for $500 in June of 2006.
(I made most of these poser shot pics clickable)





Firstly I replaced the motor. The previous owner told me the head gasket was bad. The motor had a loud knock from cylinder #1. I replaced the original 4.0L with a cheap used motor from a local junk yard. Upon investigation the old motor had a melted piston in cylinder # 1, the water pump was also leaking. The replacement motor got a full set of external seals, belt, a tune up, and a water pump. After replacing the motor I replaced the radiator and the mechanical fan clutch because both were bad.

After the basic mechanicals were repaired I installed a skyjacker 3.5" lift kit, skyjacker front sway bar disconnects, four 31x10.5R15 BF Goodrich M/T tires and Rockcrawler series 84 "black" 15x8x3.5 rims.




The skyjacker kit left a little to be desired. The rear its lower than the front as you can see from the last picture. The stock rear track bar also seemed to make the rear list to the left and the truck looked all crooked. I installed a Hidden Hitch rear receiver before I took the truck on its first road trip to Outer Banks, NC. On the trip I knocked the rear bumper cover off. And while in the parking lot of a surf shop me and my friends cut away a large part of the front bumper and front wheel wells.



When I got back from OBX I put in the adjustable trac bars and the ACOS and the KOR front trac bar conversions.



I joined NJJC in January 2007 with the ZeeJay as a daily driver.

[PatM]

The truck didn't change much from January 07 till some time in August.
Some wheeling abuse and some daily driving while constantly getting harassed by my co-workers.

CLICK PICTURE TO SEE ALBUMS

03-25-2007 Paragon with NJJC


04-22-2007 Rauch Creek with NJJC


04-28-2007 Englishtown Swap Meet with NJJC


07-2007 Rouch Creek with NJJC


08-18-2007 Brant Lake Bash with NJJC (smashed rear tail gate)

CLICK for More Brant Lake Pics

10-21-2007 NJJA Crawl for the cure. NJJC club competition. (busy weekend)


Ok enough with the poser shots.... now some tech!

[PatM]

Now that I've learned the ways. Here's the first mod/upgrade that I've actually documented.

In November 2007 I wheeled with some NJJCers on an unofficial ride at Rauch. First time out since the flop in October and the ZeeJay was no longer on DD duty since I got my "more practical" street vehicle (read 5.9). The truck runs well so I only really went over the suspension during preflight inspection. I'm going to blame it on a combination of a few things: motor mounts, twisted trans cross member, and the flop in Oct... anyway, the motor slid forward and the clutch fan took out the radiator. I took the fan off and wheeled for an hour more, but the truck kept getting close to overheating and the odor/fumes were making us dizzy. Drove home early. I took this as an opportunity to upgrade/modify.

Aftermath:


Pulled the radiator, condenser, head lights, grill, lower radiator support, air box, battery and tray.....





Tax return came in, ordered a bunch of parts.
Put my gf to work.


New parts!


Moved the EVAP charcoal canister


Removed battery tray.


Trimmed some of that unsightly factory subframe/bumper


Soldered on new ends to the battery cables.


Some other little things here and there, not worth mentioning.

[PatM]

Lower radiator support. The stock one is flimsy, bulky stamped sheet metal. I devised a smaller stronger design and Dan (warthog_cj7 on NJJC forum) helped me make it come to life with some remeasuring and welding.

Old (on top of spare tire):


New:

Close up on Dan's awesome welding

Plug weld

Primer

Let it dry over night. A little touch up sanding.

Color then clear coat.



The tube is 1"x2" 0.125" wall. The brackets are a mix of 3/16 and 1/4 plate. The crazy bolts out the back are for a future skid plate. You'll see soon.

[PatM]

MORE! Had her at Rauch Creek on Sunday, but I have more build pictures that I know you'll love. Taken last week.

Rad support installed


Close up of passenger side. Bolts into stock mounting location. New rubber grommets from dealer.


I'm going to put a plate up along the "frame" rail when the bumper gets built, it'll get welded to the rad support and sandwich the frame bolting to the bumper support. You'll understand later.

Shaved down the water pump pulley studs with a grinder. Temporary for clearance, until I get some bolts.



Old transmission cross member.






Trashed engine mounts.
Passenger side is so easy. Just make sure to support the engine before taking it out. Four 15mm bolts to frame and 18mm through bolt with 19mm nut.
OLD:


NEW (view from top):


Driver side was a little harder. Helped that I had the radiator out of the vehicle. Removed the air filter box to get some extra room. Disconnected the steering shaft at the box with 13mm socket.

OLD:
Looks good from here.


Thats my hand with the white glove on. Yay see through motor mounts!


New (already muddy cuz I lost the clean pic from right after the install)

[PatM]

So with a nice shiny new radiator I need to put a fan on there. I hear electricity is the way of the future, so I ditched the clutch fan and slammed on an electric. This one happens to be from a 5.9L. The shroud is the same size as the radiator, but in no way is a direct bolt on and to top it off is way to deep to fit between the water pump pulley and the radiator without modification.

Fan to water pump clearance after shroud modification.


Driver side.


Passenger side.



Brackets for bottom fan to radiator. Some scrap sheet metal bent into a box and welded at the corners with some holes drilled for bolts.


Wiring was easy. I got this Derale Adjustable Fan Controller (CLICKY) with a wet sensor to run the low side and am going to just manually operate the high side. Some nice switches too. Still working on the switch mounting locations. Just rigged the controller to the battery for the weekend and to get the right adjustment.

Sensor:


Controller. Mounted on fender between battery and junction box for easy access to setting screw.


Set screw (blue and yellow)




With a new radiator and fan and my consistent transmission issues I figured it was time to mount up that cooler I've had sitting around for a while. What I came up with.


Argh pirate ZeeJay


Unfortunately the fittings are different sizes. And I have to pull the cooler off in order to figure all that out.

Mounted the grill, glued and rigged the headlights into place, a few zip ties and some saw-z-all and I still needed to do somethings to get the truck ready.

Passenger headlight. Used some L shaped aluminimum to hold it in place. Now they are tighter that they were before they were taken out.


New-to-me rim. (Thanks RocksteadyRacing)


mmmmm saw-z-all...



PS always wear safety protection when throwing metal chunks around. ie gloves and eye wear. (These pictures are all poser pictures as I had to go back and forth to compare sides, so no whining. When the saw was running my eyes were safe.)

While I was doing that the girl put the custom tow hook back on.


Lucky girl got to use the 1/2" 18v impact too.

After that I turned in for the night.
Saturday I had a lot to do. Passenger headlight assembly, transmission cross member, exhaust, top off fluids, adjust fan controller, mount grill.
My camera person was away, so I didn't get any pictures. I'll put up some final pictures this week some time.

[PatM]

A taste of the next set of pictures....


Ok Mallcrawlers.... bring it!

[piku303]

i dont want to bash your design but those two bolts holding on each tow hook are not adequate for a hard pull.

[BigDaveZJ]

Flying tow hooks in 5 . . . 4 . . . 3 . . . 2 . . .

[AgitatedPancake]

I don't know, I'm not sure I see a problem with the tow hooks. He has plate inside the frame rail, and what looks like 1/2 or 9/16 bolts? The shear strength of a low carbon steel 1/2" bolt is like 7600lbs, a stainless is around 9600lbs. Thats like 15k lb load before the bolts thinks about shearing...

[BigDaveZJ]

I don't know, I'm not sure I see a problem with the tow hooks. He has plate inside the frame rail, and what looks like 1/2 or 9/16 bolts? The shear strength of a low carbon steel 1/2" bolt is like 7600lbs, a stainless is around 9600lbs. Thats like 15k lb load before the bolts thinks about shearing...

The bolts aren't the concern, it's what the bolts are attached too. ANY side load on that at all and bad things are gonna happen. It could probably survive a light straight on pull, but thats about it.

[DJJordache]

Flying tow hooks in 5 . . . 4 . . . 3 . . . 2 . . .

FO SHO!

[SuicideTireZJ]

Dunno, had mine mounted like that for a year or two with no plate before I got the custom bumper made and they held to some moderate towing. My results should in no way be attempted to recreate though.

[AgitatedPancake]

towing or un-stuckifying?

[jsteves]

I am not sure why you don't think the 5.9 will fit. I dropped one right into mine. Just added a couple of mount tabs to the top bottom fit right into the bottom of the radiator just like the stock shroud.

[PatM]

i dont want to bash your design

I have tough skin. Don't worry.

but those two bolts holding on each tow hook are not adequate for a hard pull.

Tons of real stuck pulls on that tow hook. It was on there way before I built the radiator support. I'm not worried. I make it a point to get stuck in the rocks at least once each time I go out. It is plated inside the frame and those are the bolts that came with the hooks. 1/2" grade 8 hardware. I was never worried.

I am not sure why you don't think the 5.9 will fit. I dropped one right into mine. Just added a couple of mount tabs to the top bottom fit right into the bottom of the radiator just like the stock shroud.

I don't just "think" it wouldn't fit I know. Thats what I did the first time around. Stock upper shroud mounts, a little bracket for the bottom, no modifications to the 5.9L fan, but it didn't fit, needed about 1.5" to clear the water pump. Might have to do with the aftermarket radiator. Yeah I'll blame the aftermarket radiator. I cut about an inch off the shroud and pulled the brackets in tighter and it fits like a dream now. The fan motor is about 1/2" off the radiator core and the 1" away from the water pump.

[Firestarter]

Nice to see another rig in NJ

[SirFuego]

That rig looks familiar. I wanna say I saw you at RC once or twice last year. I was in a white ZJ on swampers that was pretty banged up and probably missing a headlight...

[PatM]

Nice to see another rig in NJ

We play in the rocks up here though. Maybe one day I'll come down south Jersey and play in the sand with you. Better tune up my power washer.

That rig looks familiar. I wanna say I saw you at RC once or twice last year. I was in a white ZJ on swampers that was pretty banged up and probably missing a headlight...

Say "Hi" next time.

I'm usually followed by a bunch of new members to my club and have to take it easy. greens and blues. Every now and then I take advantage of some black trails looking for body damage

[SirFuego]

I think I was playing around on Trail 12(?) when I saw you guys. All I remember is waiting on a upslope for what seemed like an endless line of rigs from NJ and remember waving to a ZJ like yours. I usually wave to all of the ZJs I see there anyways.

[canadian_driver]

way to steal my build name and americify it

[Firestarter]

Rocks don't really do anything for me, I depend on my POS too much to get too into crawling around. Much rather spend my time in the dunes and hills!

PM me if you're ever in the area.

We play in the rocks up here though. Maybe one day I'll come down south Jersey and play in the sand with you. Better tune up my power washer.

[PatM]

way to steal my build name and americify it

Ummm sorry, my speedo says MPH on it....